The man’s dirty blond hair obscured his face, which was turned toward the ground. When Jenna spoke his name, Victor didn’t look up. She rose and went to hug him. Victor’s gaze stayed on the floor, and his arms hung slackly in front of him, still in cuffs. He held a sheet of paper.
Quinn had never met an autistic person before, so he didn’t know what he’d expected, but it wasn’t this.
“It’s good to see you, buddy,” Jenna said, her voice shaking. She led him to the table. “I’m here to help get you out of jail. Tell me what happened.”
Victor threw the paper at her, but he still didn’t raise his head. She caught the paper and glanced at it.
“What is it?” Quinn asked. Rows of numbers in squares had been scrawled on the yellow sheet.
“What’s this about, Vic?” she asked.
Victor rose and went to the door. He began to bang his head against it. Jenna went after him. “It’s okay. I’ll call the deputy to take you back to your bed.”
“Does he always do that? Bang his head, I mean?”
Frowning, she said, “He hasn’t done that since he was five or six. And he’s not talking. He always talks about whatever his current interest is.”
When Victor left with another deputy, Quinn clasped her hand and led her down the hall back to Montgomery’s office. There had to be a way to find out the baby’s location.
Montgomery closed his file when he saw them in the doorway. “He talked to you, eh?”
“He wouldn’t say anything, and I didn’t press him. He gave me this though.” She held up the sudoku.
“We’ve got more in his file.”
“Can I have copies?”
The deputy nodded, then extracted several sheets from a manila folder, stepped to the copier and copied them, then handed them to Jenna. “Any help would be appreciated. When did you last talk to your brother?”
“Probably three weeks ago. I’ve called him several times since but he was out, so I’ve left messages.”
“And when you last talked to him, he didn’t say anything about his new hobby of sudoku?”
“No. All he talked about was how early the snow had come this year. He said he hadn’t been ready and some of Florence’s roses might have been damaged because he didn’t get all of them mulched in time.”
Quinn wished she hadn’t said that. Didn’t she realize that the deputy might consider it a motive if Florence had yelled at Victor?
She must have caught something in his expression, because she quickly added, “But if you’re thinking she might have criticized him and triggered rage, that doesn’t happen with Vic. When people get mad at him, he hides. Sometimes under the porch, sometimes in the attic. He’s such a gentle soul, Deputy. This is all wrong.”
Montgomery’s expression turned pained. “I, uh, I don’t think he’s guilty, Ms. Pelton. But we’re just doing our job. The evidence points to your brother.”
“Have you called a lawyer for him?”
Montgomery nodded. “As soon as he was arrested. He hasn’t talked to the lawyer either.”
“Where is his cell? Can he see the sky from there? Is he getting outside at all?”
The deputy fiddled with his pen. “No, ma’am. The cells with windows are all taken, and the weather has been too bad to let the prisoners out for exercise.”
“Can you do anything about that? Exchange a cell with another prisoner? Get Victor outside some? He can’t stand being cooped up. Maybe if he feels more comfortable, he’ll talk to me and we can get this cleared up.”
“I don’t think I can move him, but I can see he gets outside, eh.”
Quinn fidgeted. Mason could come back any time, and they’d been here way too long. He cleared his throat. “I noticed a lighthouse out by the bed-and-breakfast. They don’t take in boarders, do they? I noticed the Blue Bonnet isn’t open right now.”
“No sir. Kade Matthews, he’s a ranger out at the forest, and his wife, Bree, trains search-and-rescue dogs. They don’t take boarders.”
“I thought I saw a kid and a dog in the yard,” Quinn said, keeping his voice casual. So she’d married someone. Figured.
Montgomery nodded, but his gaze sharpened to suspicion.
Quinn shut up. He couldn’t have asked more questions if he’d tried. The news Bree had married was enough to take in. Good riddance, he told himself. Back outside he turned to Jenna. “I want you to stop by that lighthouse. I have a feeling they will know where the baby is.”
The tiny office Lauri occupied barely held her desk and chair, but she didn’t mind. She was working for a prestigious company. Her first day of real work. She couldn’t wait until Kade heard the news. He wouldn’t think his baby sister was such a major screw-up. Maybe she could live down all her past mistakes after all.
The intercom on her desk beeped, then Mrs. Saunders’s voice blared. “Lauri, in my office please.”
Lauri’s first summons of the day. She wiped suddenly moist palms on her black A-line skirt and grabbed her notepad on her way out the door. The thick carpet muffled her steps to the big office at the end of the hall. She tapped on the door.
“Come in.”
Lauri stepped inside and closed the door behind her. She waited for Mrs. Saunders to acknowledge her. The woman wasn’t her put-together self this morning. A tight bun contained hair that was usually coiffed and stylish. She wore no makeup or jewelry, and the harsh hairstyle accentuated the lines around her eyes and mouth. Wrinkles marred her lime green pantsuit.
Mrs. Saunders quit reading her computer screen and glanced at Lauri. “Sit down, Ms. Matthews.” Lauri sat with her notepad in her lap and her pen ready. Mrs. Saunders shook her head. “You won’t need that. I want you to run an errand for me before you leave for the day.”
“An errand?” She prayed she wouldn’t be asked to go get lunch or buy a shower gift. She’d hoped to have a real job learning more about accounting, not be a glorified gofer.
“What can I do for you?”
Mrs. Saunders reached under her desk and lifted a briefcase into view. “I need you to deliver this.”
Lauri wanted to ask what was in it, but the closed expression on her boss’s face warned her not to ask too many questions. “Where am I to take it?”
“A man is waiting for it at the library. He’ll be wearing a Red Sox cap. Simply walk up to him and give it to him. His name is Bill Jones.” She shook her head. “He’s on a tight time schedule today. I know this is outside your normal duties, and I’ll make sure you don’t turn into a delivery girl. This kind of thing doesn’t happen often. Call me when you’ve done it.”
Lauri grasped the handle of the briefcase. Heavy. What was in it? She tried not to imagine the worst: drugs, guns, papers for industrial espionage. Kade would tell her to squelch that vivid imagination, but the older woman’s furtive behavior had Lauri’s mental antenna at full alert.
She grabbed her coat from her office and hurried to her car with the briefcase. The Portage Lake District Library was on Huron Street. Lauri navigated the icy roads and parked in the lot before slipping and sliding her way to the building. The briefcase grew heavier with every step, maybe because her reluctance weighed it down.
The worker behind the circulation desk smiled at her, and she returned it automatically as she scanned the library for patrons. At eleven thirty in the morning, only a few people browsed the shelves. She knew the man wouldn’t be in the children’s section, so she headed for the adult fiction.
Then she saw him. Seated at a table, he held an open book in front of him. The bill of the Red Sox cap shaded his face since he was staring down at the book. When she approached, he glanced up, and she realized it was the same man she’d overheard talking to her boss’s husband. He gave her the creeps, but she had a job to do. “Mr. Jones?” she asked when she was a few feet away.
He nodded and his gaze never left the briefcase she carried as she walked to the table. He rose when she stopped and held out his hand. “I think that’s for me.”
Lauri’s grip tightened on the case. If he hadn’t smirked, she would have passed it over without a word. “What’s in here?”
“None of your business.” His fingers closed over hers. “What’s your name?”
“Lauri. Lauri Matthews.”
“Any relation to Kade Matthews?” He held on to her hand.
“My brother. You know him?”
“Not personally.”
The touch of his hand made her shudder, and she let go. It wasn’t her concern, she told herself, bolting for her car. She was just doing her job.
Driving away from the library, she decided to swing by her apartment and eat an early lunch before class instead of buying something. When she parked on the street in front of her apartment, Lauri saw Wes’s car. She climbed the outside steps to her apartment, wishing for the umpteenth time she could afford one that had an inside hallway. And maybe she could soon.
As she approached her door, she heard the pulse of rock music. A smile stretched across her face. His presence always did that to her. She hurried the last few feet and turned the knob to her apartment. He never locked it behind him. Zorro met her at the door and she put her hand on his head, so he didn’t bark.
The pulsing beat of his Kenny Chesney CD pounded through her veins. It was so loud he hadn’t noticed her arrival. Her lips curved as she watched the man she loved. Lauri enjoyed watching him when he thought he was alone. He bobbed and weaved in a jerky dance on her scarred wooden floors. She thought maybe he was trying an old Michael Jackson move, but on Wes’s frame, the jerks were weird.
She put a gloved hand over her mouth to stifle her giggle. Careful to keep her expression nonchalant, Lauri moved into his eyesight and waved. Wes stopped what he was doing, and the grin that always stole her breath appeared. The love she felt for him always took her by surprise, and she wasn’t sure when it had first happened.
He met her before she’d taken five steps and swept her into his arms. She burrowed against him, relishing his warmth. His lips brushed hers, and she closed her eyes. He drew away and led her to the sofa.
“Did you tell her yet?” Lauri asked. She knew the answer when his smile faltered and a shadow darkened his hazel eyes. “Oh Wes, you promised.”
He glanced away from her gaze. “I tried, Lauri, really. But I hate to hurt her. I’ll be disappointing our parents as well as Maura.”
They’d been over this time and again. He was such a—a guy. “The longer you wait, the harder it will be for her to stop all the wedding plans. You don’t want her buying a lot of stuff for something that isn’t going to happen.”
“I know, I know. I’ll tell her soon.”
Yeah right. How many times had he told her that? For six long months, ever since Wes first told her he loved her, he’d been saying he’d break it off with Maura. Tears burned Lauri’s eyes, but she wasn’t going to let him see. She wanted to believe him, but it was getting harder and harder every day.
“I don’t want to force you into doing something you don’t want to do.”
He pressed his lips against her hair. “It’s not that. I want to be with you, but I have to choose the right time. If I do this wrong, Dad will cut me off, and how will I even support you? I’d like to start my own outfitters but it takes money—preferably Dad’s.”
At first she’d had cozy visions of setting up a small house with Wes with the two of them always together. But he was a man’s man. Into sports, hunting, fishing. He was happiest when he was in the wilderness. How could she even ask him to change his life so drastically by settling down with her?
She’d messed up her life so badly. Ever since her parents died, she’d made one mistake after another. Wes was the best thing that had ever happened to her, and she didn’t want to ruin this relationship too. Her dream of a new car vanished. She’d start giving money to Wes. Eventually it would be enough for him to break free from his father. He could buy the equipment for his outfitting business and make a name for himself. She wouldn’t be under her brother’s eagle eye anymore and could have a real life with Wes.
The thought of Kade made her wonder if she could talk her brother into a loan.
Watching Wes, she knew he’d had no intention of breaking away from his dad or Maura without another plan in place. Wes was a pragmatist. He’d always known where he wanted to go. There had to be a way to accomplish their dreams.
She thought of Zoe, her daughter. Mason and Hilary adored that little girl. Every time Lauri saw her—and she tried to make sure it didn’t happen often because it hurt too much—she knew she’d done the right thing to give Zoe up for adoption, but the sacrifice had made her long for a family of her own. A good man, another baby—one she could keep this time. But first Wes had to break it off with his fiancée and make their relationship a priority.
It would be up to her to figure out a way to make her dreams happen.
Her cell phone chirped in her purse, and she turned away from Wes’s pleading face to dig it out. The generic ringtone told her it was someone who didn’t know her, but she glanced at the screen anyway. Her boss’s cell phone number flashed across the screen.
“Hello, Mrs. Saunders.” She turned her back to Wes’s questioning expression.
“How—how did the meeting go?” Mrs. Saunders asked. “I wanted to catch you before class.”
“What meeting do you mean?” Lauri tried to think if she’d forgotten a meeting for today.
“The delivery you made for me.”
“Fine. I did what you asked.”
“Did he say anything?”
“No. He just took the briefcase.”
“Strange. He still hasn’t . . .”
Lauri wasn’t following any of this. “Hasn’t what?”
“Never mind. I’ll have to wait. I must call Mike.” The phone went dead.
Lauri hung up. “That woman has been so weird,” she said.
Wes reared away from the sofa. “Who was that?”
“My boss.” She told him about the errand she had run and what Mrs. Saunders had said.
Wes pulled at his chin. “You think she’s running drugs or something?”
Lauri shook her head. “Not Mrs. Saunders. But she’s been really upset since I met her yesterday. I don’t know what it’s all about.”
“What’s her husband do?”
“I don’t know. I never asked.”
He flipped open his laptop and called up the browser. Lauri watched him type in the name. She leaned closer when the results came up. “Her husband is Mike Saunders. He owns Kitchigami Mining Corporation.” She vaguely remembered hearing of it.
“I wonder if the briefcase had something to do with him. Maybe he’s about to go bankrupt or something.”
“That doesn’t explain what I delivered.”
“Maybe it was a payoff or a kickback to let him open a new mine somewhere.”
“You’ve got a wild imagination.” She shrugged, her interest waning. “I think I’ll heat up some beef pasties for lunch.” She leaned into his embrace. He smelled of wood chips and snow. And he was hers.
“Sounds great. Don’t forget the ketchup.”
“I won’t. You want anything else?”
“A Dr Pepper. I have to be at Mom’s in fifteen minutes so better hurry.”
“What? I’ve got two hours before class.”
“She needed me to help Dad move the living-room furniture around. She’s got a euchre club meeting tomorrow.”
Why did his mother’s stupid meeting come before her? Lauri stormed off to the kitchen. Maybe it would always be this way. Ever since she’d met Wes, it seemed he put his family and everyone else first. She should insist on meeting his family. They were going to have to know about her sooner or later. If she left Wes to his own devices, she’d be eighty before he married her.
8
THE CHILDREN’ S PROTECTIVE SERVICES EMPLOYEE HAD already come and gone this afternoon. With the baby sleeping in the carrier by her feet and Davy playing besi
de them both with a fire truck, Bree launched the Web browser on the computer and typed in another search for missing babies in the UP, Michigan, or Wisconsin. No new Amber alerts had been posted since she’d first searched over the weekend, only the ones she knew about for the reservation babies. She clicked to the next page and found an article about a woman who had been stolen from a reservation and was being reunited with her birth parents. Old news.
“Nothing,” she told Samson, who stood guard over the baby. Her gaze lingered on the infant’s face. “Who are you, little girl?” she asked softly.
The doorbell pealed out its Elvis tune, and she rose to answer it. She left the baby sleeping, but Samson padded after her. “Come with me,” she told Davy.
He made a face. “Aw, Mom. No one is going to grab me in the hallway. Besides, I need to look after her.”
They were on the second floor of the lighthouse, and the doors were locked. “Okay,” she said, touching his hair. “Take good care of the baby.” She jogged down the steps as the doorbell song restarted. “Coming,” she called.
Through the window in the door, she saw a woman standing on the porch. Blonde, about twenty-five, maybe a little older. Beautiful bone structure and dressed in a stylish coat with a red beret perched on her head. Even from here, the outerwear looked expensive.
Bree pulled the door open. “Can I help you?”
The woman clasped her hands together and focused tear-filled blue eyes on her. “I’m Victor Pelton’s sister, Jenna. I’m here to try to clear him, and I’d heard you were a friend of his. I need your help.”
“I was sorry to hear about Victor. Come in.” Bree stepped back to allow the woman to enter.
“I don’t suppose I could use your bathroom?”
“Sure.” Bree shut the door and locked it. “It’s this way.”
The woman’s high-heeled leather boots clicked across the oak floor, but she stopped when Samson nosed at her hand and whined. “Gorgeous dog,” she said, rubbing his ears.
“His name is Samson. He’s a search dog.”
“I’ve heard of him.”
Cry in the Night Page 7
